How Sharks Hunt

Learn how here

A shark starts hunting by using its sense of smell to literally navigate toward its prey. Sharks smell through a pair of nostril-like holes, called nares, on the undersurface of their snouts. The layers of tissue within these holes are extremely sensitive. When the shark’s sensors in their snout detect the odor of a potential catch, then the shark will adjust its course to the water current where the chemical (odor) is coming from.

Amazingly, a shark’s ability to smell is so refined that it can be more accurate than GPS systems we use. For instance, sharks can often tell which of its nostrils is getting the stronger scent signal and uses this knowledge to guide toward its prey with incredible precision. Even during an attack from another marine animal, the shark will rely on their electrical sensors to know where their prey is. This would enable them to protect themselves such as rolling their eyes into their head before being attacked.

SharkTec’s repellent technology again uses these scientific facts to provide an extremely effective product. Instead of a shark’s nostrils navigating towards the precise location of the chemical (odor) of potential prey, the chemicals dispersed by SharkTec’s products will alert the shark to the precise location of where they should avoid. This being the location that you have released the shark repellent in the water. Thus, the most common type of reasons shark attacks occur on humans (out of curiosity, mistaken identity for prey) is mitigated as sharks in the vicinity are no longer curious or guessing if you are edible prey.

Shark Attacks

Should you be worried?

One of the most famous shark attacks is that of the USS Indianapolis, sunk by Japanese torpedoes in the Pacific Ocean in 1945. Sharks were drawn by the sound of the explosions, the sinking of the ship and the thrashing and blood in the water. It is believed that Oceanic Whitetips and Tiger Sharks were responsible for most of the deaths of attacking stranded crewman. It took several days for rescuers to reach the ship, because the mission had been so top secret that no one reported the ship missing. The sharks fed for days, with no sign of rescue for the men. By the time Navy rescue craft arrived, Of the Indianapolis’ original 1,196-man crew, only 317 remained. Estimates of the number who died from shark attacks range from a few dozen to almost 150.

However, stories such as the USS Indianapolis are more folk than truth and the majority of the scientific community has come to the consensus that shark attacks on humans occur to a case of mistaken identity. Sharks often mistake humans for prey that is on their food chain. This is why surfers are often the victims of shark attacks. The surfer’s human figure resembles the form of a sea lion or seal coming from a shark’s perspective at the bottom of the ocean. Consequently, sharks will then mistakenly test what they think is a perfectly editable meal.

SharkTec Protection

Trust in science!

The shark's nose is definitely one of its most impressive (and prominent) features. As the shark moves, water flows through two forward facing nostrils, positioned along the sides of the snout. The water enters the nasal passage and moves past folds of skin covered with sensory cells. In some sharks, these sensitive cells can detect even the slightest traces of blood in the water. A great white shark, for example, would be able to detect a single drop of blood in an Olympic-size pool. Most sharks can detect blood and animal odors from many miles away.

The sensitivity of sharks to water-borne chemicals is often so acute, they can actually distinguish which nare — the left or the right — is receiving the stronger whiff! Thus, by comparing the strength of a chemical signal between its two nares, a shark can quickly home in on the source of an attractive odor. The twin nasal cavities act something like your two ears: Smell coming from the left of the shark will arrive at the left cavity just before it arrives at the right cavity. In this way, a shark can figure out where a smell is coming from and head in that direction.

Smell is what our SharkTec repellent spray targets. Our product takes away not just one acute sense of a shark that would hinder its ability to hunt but the MOST powerful sense of all. Our repellent does more than just plug the nasal openings of sharks trying to locate food but actually causes a slight reaction in sharks that will cause them to leave the area immediately